The Rising Power of O in Travel Marketing

March 5, 2014 Steve Wellmeier

Magazine image courtesy of Webomator, with title help from Mark Babushkin

Where does your tour or small ship cruise product fit in on the O Continuum?

No, this isn’t something out of pulp science fiction. I learned about it recently in the January–February issue of the Harvard Business Review: “What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews,” by Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen.

If you’re a marketer like me, you’ll likely apply the principles to your own product or service as you peruse the article. In my case, that’s the marketing of specialty cruises and tours. It’s a quick read and I recommend it. But I’ll summarize some of the major points and add a few of my own in this blog post.

The Art of Market Positioning

January 27, 2014 Steve Wellmeier

The marketplace will position you whether you like it or not, putting your product in this basket or that, among all those baskets that deliver the product that a buyer might choose in a particular segment of the market. Photo courtesy Magnolia Bask… — The marketplace will position you whether you like it or not, putting your product in this basket or that, among all those baskets that deliver the product that a buyer might choose in a particular segment of the market. Photo courtesy Magnolia Baskets.

Is good content enough these days?

What if it’s not as descriptive or representative of your product or service as you think it is, and doesn’t really set you apart from your competitors? Understanding the craft of positioning can help.

This post was inspired by a webcast I had the good fortunate to listen to last week. The webcast, How to Drive Travel Purchases with Content Marketing, was presented by the travel media company Skift and travel content provider DreamPlanGo.

The webcast provided great advice, to be sure. But it got me thinking about another ingredient in the marketing strategy mix that shouldn’t be overlooked before you start drafting your content marketing mission statement. Unfortunately, it often is.